This republic of the former Soviet Union is made up of two
main parts. One was the former Romanian province of Bessarabia.
Like the Baltic republics, it was annexed to the Soviet Union
following the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939. Called by the Soviet
Union Moldavia, it was renamed by the local government during
1990. To it Stalin added parts of Russia and Ukraine in which
there were some Romanian speaking inhabitants. But there were
also non-Romanians. He ordered that the language should be written
in Cyrillic characters, which cut the people off from their heritage.

Now that the Ceausescu regime has fallen some of the people
would like to rejoin Romania. As a preliminary has declared sovereignty
and has restored the Roman script.

There is a Turkic minority, the Gagauz, a Christian group
who are opposed to joining Romania and who have declared their
own Republic, as well as Russian and Ukrainian minorities. The
Russian minority too has declared its independence as the Trans
Dniestria Republic which is based on the district around Tiraspol
and occupies a strip alongside the river Dniester.

The government refused to sign the proposed Union Treaty reconstituting
the Soviet Union in 1991.

Changing the frontier will take a lot of negotiating and may
add to the instability of the region. The independence of the
Ukraine has added another complication. The Russian-speaking
area is now cut off from Russia by the Ukraine but Cossack volunteers
have moved there to defend it from the Romanian dominated government.
The government of Romania itself has expressed support for the
Romanian group. Union with Romania seems likely at some time,
but perhaps after war. There has been fighting in Trans-Dniestria.

A referendum in March 1994 voted for independence, against
merger with Romania. Will the country be viable on its own? The
enthusiasm for rejoining Romania seems to have diminished, possibly
a result of Romania's lack of economic success.

The most recent (April 2002) government was formed by the former
Communist party.

Elections are due in 6 March 2005. There is reported to be
interference from Moskva on behalf of the Russian minority in
Trans-Dniestria in the hope of getting a pro-Russian government.
However the current government, though Communist in name wishes
to follow the recent events in Ukraine with pro-EU policies.
Perhaps they hope to join the EU with Romania.

However the regime continued to resemble the former Soviet
regime.

Elections were held in April 2009. The announced result was
a victory for the pro-Russian Communist party, supported mainly
by rural voters. Urban voters however voted for pro-European
parties. Following the result there were riots and demonstrations
in the capital. Will the election be accepted?

Elections in July 2009 resulted in a victory for a coalition
of pro-EU parties, pledged to begin negotiations for membership.
This would resolve the problem of whether or not to rejoin Romania,
as the frontier between the two countries would become porous.

Is it the poorest country in Europe? Maybe it's just a little
better off than Albania - but not much.

The Soviet era economy has collapsed but there are few signs
of a modern one to replace it. A quarter of the population is
believed to be working outside the state. Their remittances stave
off complete collapse.